Guro Taku wrote:Is it acceptable to cry at the movies in Japan? I know you said laughing is taboo, even if the film is a comedy.

More than acceptable. Half of the domestic film industry is trying to produce tear jerkers for female audiences. It is pretty much believed that there is a correlation between the number of tears and the number of tickets sold. When Interstellar was released here one of the advertising taglines was "the whole world is crying".

"Sooner or later, many Japanese directors — be they internationally acclaimed auteurs or industry outsiders — end up making what Sion Sono (a noted auteur/outsider himself) once described to me as “a real Japanese film.” To put it simply, this sort of film is aimed squarely at the domestic audience, especially folks looking for a good cry."- http://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/201 ... mo82b-smZd

So, I broke my promise to see this as soon as it opens. I wasn’t too impressed with the more recent trailer(s), and the phenomenal box office success (currently the 2nd highest grossing Japanese film ever) kind of put me off (Japanese mainstream audiences usually only embrace crap), so it took me almost half a year to finally see it.

I think the film is neither bad nor great. It’s about a teenage boy and girl who, for some reason, swap bodies. Old concept, but the new twist is that they only swap bodies for one day at a time, and cannot decide when it happens. Pretty fun first half. Also offers a nice comparison between life in the countryside and modern Tokyo metropolis, which make the home for the two protagonists. The second half is much more dramatic, but I didn’t find the drama as well made as some of Shinkai’s earlier films.

This is very much a major mainstream release, and as such I think it’s pretty good. I liked it better than Children Who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below. But I would take Garden of Words, 5 Centimeters Per Second or Voices of a Distant Star anytime over this.

Oh, and no, I did not cry during the film.

edit: forgot to mention the soundtrack by is pretty terrible as you'd expect

"The number one film at the 2016 box office was “Your Name,” which has also set a record for the top-earning Japanese film ever internationally, with $290 million at last count. “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” with $102.5 million was the second ranked film of the year and the top scoring Hollywood movie. In third was Japan’s “Shin Godzilla” with $72 million."

The success of Your Name is insane. It's currently no. 1 at the box office... five months after it opened. Toho is also releasing it nationwide with English subtitles this month (they could've done that 5 months ago, though).

HungFist wrote:Toho is also releasing it nationwide with English subtitles this month (they could've done that 5 months ago, though).

What exactly is the reasoning there? I never had the impression that there were that many foreigners working in Japan who'd go watch subtitled anime theatrically. So who's this targeted at? Tourists?

That's a good question.

The film being one of the biggest hits EVER in Japan, I could imagine there being enough foreign audience for it, though. It's not exactly your standard anime release... it's bigger than Hayao Miyazaki. Well, 5 months ago at least. Not sure about now that most people probably went to see it w/o subs or downloaded illegally.